#mitchell parish

Muppet Song of the Day: "Sleigh Ride"

Music: Leroy Anderson

Sophisticated Lady

Duke Ellington wrote Sophisticated Lady in 1932 and recorded it in 1933. Like many jazz standards, the publisher had lyrics added by an independent lyricist,  in this case, Mitchell Parish. Ellington apparently approved of the lyrics, saying

...wonderful—but not entirely fitted to my original conception.

For a song that is one of Ellington’s most angelic, it is devilishly difficult-particularly for the vocalist. The melody is very complicated to sing, so it is not surprising that a definitive vocal rendition comes from the effortless voice of Sarah Vaughan. 

After Hours (1961) was Sarah Vaughn’s first album with just guitar (Mundell Lowe) and double bass (George Duvivier) accompaniment. The sophisticated accompaniment for a sophisticated voice, singing Sophisticated Lady.

1957 Music: Hoagy Carmichael; lyric: Mitchell Parish

"Love is now the stardust of yesterday. The music of the years gone by"

Douze points - two bonus marks - to the number one in Let's Do It, my personal fifty favourite singles from 1954-76.

Written by Hoagy Carmichael in 1927, the tune was inspired by the end of one of his romantic entanglements. The sentimental lyric was added by Mitchell Parish a couple of years later - he'd later be described as the poet laureate of Tin Pan Alley. Versions by Don Redman and Isham Jones made "Stardust" a familiar song in the early 1930s, and - as was the way at that time - many cover versions quickly followed.

"Stardust"'s melody takes an unusual form, constantly shifting from major to minor and back again. The verses also have an unusual rhyme scheme, sometimes rhyming ABAB "time, heart, climb, apart", sometimes rhyming within a line "the melody haunts my reverie", sometimes Shakesperian blank verse. And it's a tricky technical song to sing, a range of almost two octaves from chest to head voice.

A big band standard by the mid-1930s, it was recorded by Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman and Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby and Reg Snipton and Glenn Miller and Ella Fitzgerald. And many, many, many more - it's estimated that over 10,000 versions of "Stardust" have been recorded.

Which is where we pick up Nat "King" Cole's single, a minor hit on both sides of the Atlantic. He'd been performing "Stardust" in his live set since the early 1950s, but had been reluctant to record it because there were so many other versions around. He also found the song physically taxing, once remarking "I hate to sing 'Stardust', it wears me out." Nevertheless, producer Gordon Jenkins persuaded Nat to record the tune. Thank goodness for that!

On this version, "Stardust" benefits from an intimate orchestration. Nat invites us into his world, makes sure we're comfortable, pulls up a blanket, and settles down for the night. The song needs to be restrained, more than a whisper, less than a full shout, and here we strike the right balance. Music comes together with the voice of wine and roses.

Though I dream in vain In my heart it will remain My stardust melody The memory of love's refrain

I've heard the song "Stars Fell on Alabama" all my life, but only learned recently how the song came to be; it's an interesting story:

Before the song, there was a book of the same name written by Carl Carmer. The song 'Stars Fell on Alabama' was created by Mitchell Parish (lyrics), and Frank Perkins (music), apparently inspired by some of the stories in Carmer's book.

In 1833 - 100 years before the song was written - there was a celestial event reported by the Florence Gazette, a newspaper in north Alabama:

"[There were] thousands of luminous bodies shooting across the firmament in every direction. There was little wind and not a trace of clouds, and the meteors succeeded each other in quick succession."

The cause of the astronomical fireworks that inspired the book and the song "Stars Fell On Alabama" was (and still is) the Leonids - a prolific annual meteor shower associated with the Tempel–Tuttle comet. The Leonids also are known to produce spectacular meteor storms occurring about every 33 years - such as the one in 1833. The Leonids typically peak around 17-18 November, so this post will serve as a heads-up for those interested.